Image: The Bee Experience
According to a recent survey, most U.S. adults (86%) say small businesses have a positive effect on the way things are going in America. In fact, small businesses receive by far the most positive reviews of any of the nine U.S. institutions asked about in the survey, outranking the military and houses of worship.
The 2024 Wells Fargo Impact of Women-Owned Business Report stated between 2019 and 2023 the number of women-owned businesses in the United States increased at nearly double the rate of those owned by men; and from 2022 to 2023, the rate of growth increased to 4.5 times. Further, an astounding 17% of Black women are in the process of starting or running new businesses. That’s compared to just 10% of white women, and 15% of white men.
Yet despite these positive trends, small business owners and leaders, especially from marginalized communities, are all too often left to face a workforce infrastructure that was not built to support them. Only 3% of Black women are running a business surviving past five years. Moreover, Black female founders earn an average revenue of $24,000, compared to an average of $142,900 among all women-owned businesses. Critical services like accessing capital, insurance, healthcare, childcare, and retirement are hard to navigate alone.
Melina Higbee founded The Bee Experience in response to this broad lack of support, specifically in her hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. "I am primarily seeking to support women of color entrepreneurs as we have not always had a seat at the table. I'm inspired by the women who may not even call themselves or see themselves as entrepreneurs because how they are currently serving or innovating is simply what they have been doing to care for their families, neighborhoods, and communities."
"I am primarily seeking to support women of color entrepreneurs as we have not always had a seat at the table. I'm inspired by the women who may not even call themselves or see themselves as entrepreneurs because how they are currently serving or innovating is simply what they have been doing to care for their families, neighborhoods, and communities."
When asked about the importance of localized support and attention, Melina drew it back to the mission of impacting and connecting with the people you know and care about. "In my other work [supporting entrepreneurs], every day has taken me all over the United States and the world. I'm connecting with entrepreneurs and innovators remotely and I've been so grateful for the experience of meeting with others this way. But it occurred to me that I didn't have the same knowledge or awareness of the entrepreneurs and innovators even in my own backyard. The place where I grew up and have come to live and be. I believed there was an opportunity. An organization should be more involved with the local community; making decisions that affect the people you care about, and the work that you're in, the business that we're in, if done only remotely can become very disconnected."
"But it occurred to me that I didn't have the same knowledge or awareness of the entrepreneurs and innovators even in my own backyard. The place where I grew up and have come to live and be. I believed there was an opportunity."
And the opportunities have continued to reveal themselves. Melina shared a recent chance encounter with someone who shared a mutual interest and investment in supporting local entrepreneurs. "I went to an event and saw someone who looked familiar. We realized I'd known her since I was five years old, her sister was my sister's best friend in elementary school and her grandmother used to keep us but I had not seen her since I graduated from the sixth grade. We exchanged contact information and it turns out she is in leadership at the local community college center for entrepreneurs and needed new instructors. Things have been falling into place."
Melina’s intention to remain focused on the local community in Cleveland mirrors her big vision for how to spark change in an individualized, relational, and deeply personal way. “For The Bee Experience, it really is about pollinating the community one entrepreneur at a time. I want to be able to give people that personal attention and experience. There are many people who facilitate larger group coaching and I think that's important but I also want this to feel different, because I'm here. I'm right here in the community. We’ve been in a Zoom world and we're going to remain in a Zoom virtual world, but that human connection means a lot. How else will we feed one another and share ideas if we’re not together?”
To learn more about Melina and The Bee Experience, email info@thebeeexp.com | website coming soon.